Friday, December 11, 2009

Day 1 of Vegan in 30 Days

I actually read through the whole book today! It is only about 100 pages, and not daunting whatsoever (although the diet is I know)! Anyways, now I am going to go through one day at a time and try to master the goals.

A few years ago Steven and I went to Hueco Tanks near El Paso for a climbing trip. We met the nicest couple, and I will never forget them. Sashi and Bethann! Sashi was a tiny Indian man and Bethann was his extremely athletic wife. They were probably mid-50s and were full-time RVers. They were hardcore vegans . . . hardcore hippies too. Bethann hadn't seen a razor in some time. They also grew their own beansprouts in their windowsill! They talked to us about their diet ALOT, and how healthy they are and how great they feel and yadda yadda . . . although interesting, I was not feeling like I should undertake this new lifestyle. Although it did totally make us want to buy an RV!

Fastforward to this week. I've been hearing alot about vegan/vegetarian diets, especially from celebrities that I respect. So I looked into it. Vegan means to not eat any animal flesh or animal products - so no red meat, poultry, or fish, and no dairy or eggs, etc. What is left?! Haha. Anyways, the more I read the more I was heartbroken for animals living in torturous conditions, the more I thought I could benefit from this change, and the more I felt empowered to follow through with this. But I needed something easy to follow, a step by step process. Cold turkey would be too overwhelming. That's how I found "Vegan in 30 Days". There is my intro!

Day 1 - Why do you want to be a Vegan?

The book is not an argument for the Vegan lifestyle. They are assuming that you already have your reasons, and these are the steps to reaching that goal. BUT they want you to have very convincing reasons for yourself, because you can feel very strong until someone throws a bowl of ice cream in front of you. Here is my simple list of reasons:

- To avoid hereditary health problems like blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart issues- To have more energy!!!- To reduce my carbon footprint and animal cruelty- To set a good example for Davie in her diet and treatment of the world

When I feel like this goal is to hard, I will look back at these and hopefully muster up the strength to keep going. The good news I keep reading is that once you have "reset" your palate, you won't crave those other foods and fruit and veggies will have never tasted so good! Can't wait for that!